Drusilla
Canon Point After Drusilla's final trip to Sunnydale, as seen in Buffy the Vampire Slayer's 'Crush'. (Though she remembers many of her previous nexus encounters as a series of unusual and rather vivid dreams.) Background Drusilla was born into a moderately wealthy Catholic family in 19th century, but her idyllic life was soiled by her psychic gifts. Born with the Sight – the ability to see visions of the future – Drusilla considered herself wicked and desired to enter a convent and cleanse herself. Before she had the chance, however, she attracted the attention of vampires Angelus and Darla. Attracted by her purity, Angelus began to pursue her relentlessly, torturing and killing her entire family in the process. She fled to a convent in Prague, but, on the day she was to take her vows, Angelus broke in and forced her to watch as he massacred the nuns. Her thin grip on reality finally snapped and Angelus sired her in order to preserve his ‘masterpiece’. Drusilla proceeded to accompany Angelus and Darla on their travels across Europe, and, in 1880, sired a vampire of her own, the young poet William (later known as Spike). The four cut a bloody trail through Europe and Asia, but the couple eventually separated from Angelus and Darla (unaware of the former’s ensoulment). They rampaged across the globe for almost a century before encountering a vicious mob in Prague. Drusilla was severely injured during the encounter and she and Spike travelled to the Sunnydale Hellmouth in search of a cure. This cure eventually came in the form of the blood of her sire, who eventually lost his soul again and joined Spike and Drusilla on a quest to destroy the world. Spike, unhappy with this turn of events and eager to have his lover to himself again, teamed up with the Slayer, Buffy, to save the world in exchange for safe passage from Sunnydale. The pair headed to South America where they attempted to return to their life of bloodshed and destruction. They weren't successful. After a series of visions and a growing sense of awareness that she could no longer ignore, Drusilla began to realise the her beloved was covered in the hated Slayer. It was as if Buffy Summers had infected Spike, like some sort of parasite. She knew that Spike loved Buffy before he did and, consequently, abandoned him in South America because she couldn't stand the taste on his lips. After travelling alone for a while, Drusilla found her way to Los Angeles and Wolfram and Hart. The law firm had resurrected the deceased Darla in an attempt to manipulate Angel. Drusilla was more than happy to sire her grandmother and rampage across the city in her company. Unfortunately, Angel caught up with them before the streets began to run red and the pair, seriously burned, had to take refuge in the sewers. Once she was capable of travel, Drusilla returned to Sunnydale in search of Spike. With Darla back and Angel on the brink of becoming Angelus, their family was very close to being complete. He didn't want to come with her, however, and even went as far as to offer to stake her to prove his love for Buffy. It was too late to save him. It was too late to save him and Darla was as lost as the child that prepared to grow in her belly. Drusilla had no choice but to set off on her own once more. Personality Dru is mad. There’s no getting around that, even if it isn’t entirely cut and dried. Drusilla was sired by Angelus after months of relentless pursuit and torture. An ensouled Angel once remarked that she was the “worst” thing he created as a vampire, so we can only guess what a lot of this torture included. (In fact, she often displays what is known as ‘dissociative behaviour’, which is common in children who have suffered through traumatic experiences. She retreats into a world of her own when things become difficult or upsetting, and pours a great deal into her beloved dolls.) We do know that he murdered her family, and, when she fled to a convent, forced her to watch as he massacred the nuns and slept with his partner Darla. Her grip on reality – which, thanks to her gift of Sight, had always been tentative at best – simply snapped. Angelus also snatched away her childhood, and, consequently, the vampiric Drusilla has many childlike attributes. She collects dolls and likes ‘cute’ things such as puppies and kittens. However, like (almost) all of the Buffyverse vampires, she has no soul and is therefore inherently evil. She’ll happily sing nursery rhymes while torturing somebody and is generally happiest when a lovely bit of mass destruction is going on around her. Her language – often rather innocent, peppered with nonsense words and songs – generally masks her true wickedness. Prior to being discovered by Angelus, Drusilla was a pure and virtuous Catholic (with a potential for sainthood, as a matter-of-fact). However, her desire to enter a convent was motivated by her desire to cleanse herself as much as by her piety. She considered her visions of the future to be wicked – something Angelus preyed on during his pursuit – and believed that they made her an “evil thing”. Her feverous religious devotion was a way of making up for that. Angelus also slaughtered her family, leaving Drusilla with a void that she attempted to fill with an ersatz family. Angelus became her father figure, Darla became her grandmother and William became - because vampire genealogy is very strange indeed - both her lover and her son. Dru is the sort of person who needs somebody to take care of her. Although she is probably – and, in the show, is definitely – cunning and vicious enough to survive on her own, she doesn’t want to. She puts a great deal of faith in family and isn't entirely comfortable on her own. Abilities and Weaknesses Drusilla has the Sight, and, as well as being able to see visions of the future, she has a variety of other handy psychic abilities. In particular, she has a knack for hypnosis and telepathy, which is seen when she mesmerises the Slayer Kendra and when she convinces Rupert Giles that she is his deceased lover. Her visions, however, are not particularly selective. She can’t choose what she sees, or when, and often finds them rather distressing. Occasionally her cryptic comments can’t be interpreted without the benefit of hindsight. More often than not, people interpret them in a way other than the one Drusilla intended. She also has the standard strengths of a Buffyverse vampire. She’s immortal – unless she’s exposed to sunlight or staked in the chest, that is – and has physical strength far beyond the human norm, as well as longevity and the ability to regenerate. Her weaknesses including holy water, the aforementioned sunlight and the inability to enter a dwelling without an invitation. Category:Characters Category:Undead